Adolescent Depressive Symptoms and Peer Dynamics: Distorted Perceptions in Liking and Disliking Networks

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Depression in adolescents has been linked to poor life outcomes, including suicidal ideation, peer victimization, and fewer friendships. Less is known about how depressed adolescents perceive their peer interactions. Based on the depression-distortion model, we expected that adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their social ties by being less likely to like some peers, and more likely to dislike other peers. An Italian dataset about adolescent relationships was used, including 275 first-year secondary school students (M age = 11.80, 46% female) in 12 classrooms across nine schools. Adolescents were asked to nominate classmates they liked and disliked. Longitudinal social network analyses (stochastic actor-oriented models) were conducted, including structural network effects (reciprocity, transitivity, indegree-popularity) and covariates such as gender, immigrant origin, and highest parents' education level. The results indicated that adolescents with depressive symptoms were less likely to send liking nominations, and conversely, they were more likely to send disliking nominations than non-depressed classmates. Interestingly, adolescents with depressive symptoms were not more disliked or less liked by their peers. These findings seem to support the depression-distortion model by suggesting that, compared to non-depressed peers, adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their relationships by overstating negative relationships and underestimating positive ones.

Source: Behavioral Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/bs14111110

Authors: Diego Palacios, Silvia Caldaroni, Christian Berger, Daniele Di Tata, Davide Barrera

Institutions: Universidad Mayor, Sapienza University of Rome, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Collegio Carlo Alberto, University of Turin

Language: English

Topic: Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,501

Funders: Compagnia di San Paolo, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesión Social, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Erasmus+, Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico, Fondo de Financiamiento de Centros de Investigación en Áreas Prioritarias

OpenAlex ID: W4404502525